Spell Puppet

“Hmph!”

The necromancer snorted coldly, his gaze returning to Black.

The Soul-Binding Demon had lost an arm in that last attack.

But its main arm, which held the scythe, was intact, and its combat power had not diminished much.

With the Demon-Cleaver gone from his hand, Black, with a blank expression, took out a weapon from his storage ring.

The Overlord Spear.

Kristine was confused by this series of actions.

‘Why on earth would he throw away the stronger Demon-Cleaver like a long-range projectile?’

‘This Overlord Spear is far inferior to the Demon-Cleaver.’

In the distance, Jianye also saw this scene.

The memory of her last battle with Black flashed through her mind.

A glimmer of understanding surfaced in her heart.

A slight arc curved at the corner of her mouth.

‘So that’s it… is that the plan?’

Black tightened his grip on the Overlord Spear and, under Kristine’s increasingly puzzled gaze, channeled his spiritual power.

“Blood Prison Spear!”

The necromancer was also stunned, a look of shock on his face.

“Dual class?! He can even activate a Knight’s oracle?!”

This young man’s trickiness was beyond his expectations.

He would probably be the first to reach him again.

He stared at Black, not daring to be the slightest bit careless.

At this moment.

The necromancer’s attention was completely drawn to the long spear in Black’s hand.

Black moved!

He swung the Overlord Spear, its heavy phantoms like mountains and prisons, attacking the one-armed Soul-Binding Demon!

However, just as the spear phantom was about to hit the Soul-Binding Demon.

He unbelievably and abruptly withdrew his attack.

Under the necromancer’s astonished gaze.

He stepped on the handle of the scythe swung by the Soul-Binding Demon, used the force to leap high, and at the same time shouted.

“Demon-Cleaver!”

‘What’s going on?!’

Kristine couldn’t react in time.

The necromancer was even more bewildered.

But the next moment.

“Pfft!”

The muffled sound of a blade piercing through flesh reached the necromancer’s ears.

He looked down in disbelief.

And saw a golden sword tip protruding from his heart!

Intense pain swept through his entire body.

He spat out a large mouthful of foul blood, his face turning ashen.

The necromancer struggled to turn his head, using his last bit of strength to look behind him.

The Demon-Cleaver, which should have been quietly stuck in the ground.

Was now floating in mid-air on its own, its body humming, its brilliance flowing!

“A… a sword… spirit! This sword… has a sword spirit!!!”

He stared at the Demon-Cleaver, a hoarse cry escaping his lips.

He finally understood. He had fallen into the other’s scheme from the very beginning!

Black throwing the sword was a feint.

The real killing move was to let the longsword with a sword spirit sneak up behind him, waiting for this perfect assassination opportunity!

Kristine also covered her mouth in shock.

The Demon-Cleaver had birthed a sword spirit!

Only then did she realize.

All of Black’s abnormal actions before, including throwing the sword, switching to the spear, and feigning an attack.

Were all to create a huge diversion.

To draw the necromancer’s attention to the front, creating an opportunity for the Demon-Cleaver’s spirit to launch a sneak attack!

How rare was a sword spirit.

Even among six-star weapons, only a very small number could possibly give birth to such a spirit!

Black raised his hand and beckoned.

The Demon-Cleaver flew back into his hand with a “swoosh,” its brilliance turning inward, not a single drop of blood on it.

Having lost the necromancer’s control.

The three Soul-Binding Demons and the few remaining evil spirits, like puppets with their strings cut, twisted and disintegrated.

They turned into wisps of black smoke and disappeared into the air.

Leon, Irena, and the others looked at this sudden reversal, somewhat dazed.

They were still thinking it would be a tough fight to deal with the Soul-Binding Demons.

They hadn’t expected Black to have already gone straight for the source and taken out the necromancer!

Everyone gathered around Black, surrounding him and staring warily at the necromancer who had collapsed on the ground.

Blood seeped continuously from the wound on his chest, soaking the ground around him.

His body twitched, and he seemed to want to say something, but in the end, he only let out a few meaningless chuckles.

Then he stopped moving completely.

“Is he dead?”

Leon said uncertainly.

“S-Should be.”

Irena looked at the lifeless body, also not quite sure.

Black stepped forward and used the Demon-Cleaver to lift the black cloak on the other’s body.

However.

The scene revealed under the cloak made them all suck in a breath of cold air.

Under the black robe was not a body of flesh and blood.

But a yellow paper doll, cut in two by the Demon-Cleaver, completely empty inside!

The paper doll was covered in strange, crimson runes.

At this moment, these runes slowly burned, and along with the paper doll, turned into a small pile of ash.

“A… a paper doll?!”

Leon stared in disbelief, pointing at the ashes on the ground.

Jianye frowned, squatted down, and examined the not-yet-completely-burned rune remnants.

After a moment of thought, she spoke.

“The structure of these runes, I’m afraid this isn’t a simple paper doll, but a ‘spell puppet’.”

“Spell puppet?”

Irena had never heard this term before.

But Kristine, as if she had thought of something, her face looking grim, said slowly.

“Necromancers usually master two forbidden arts.”

“One is necromancy, which manipulates souls and creates evil spirits. The other is puppet-refining, which refines and controls puppets.”

“The so-called puppet-refining can not only refine a corpse into a spell puppet that retains its strength from when it was alive.”

“It can also remotely project one’s own consciousness onto the spell puppet to control it, as if one were there in person.”

Black took over her words and concluded.

“In other words, the one we killed just now was just a remotely controlled puppet.”

“The real necromancer’s body is still hiding somewhere.”

He paused and added.

“However, the consciousness that was speaking just now was indeed him.”

Black was well aware of this strange situation.

This was why in the game, the side quest “The Necromancer Hidden in the Orphanage” took two days.

The first day was just to deal with his puppet substitute.

The second day was the decisive battle with his real body.

This elite mini-boss was equivalent to having two lives.

The others naturally did not know this information.

So, learning that the tough fight just now had only destroyed a puppet.

They were all a little disheartened and annoyed.

Leon, in particular, scratched his head in frustration.

“So we were busy for nothing just now? We worked our asses off, and in the end, the real guy didn’t even show his face?”

“And after this battle, we’ve already alerted the enemy.”

“If that necromancer has half a brain, he’ll know to get the hell out of here. Where are we going to find him now?”

This area was so large. To find a deliberately hidden necromancer would be no easy task.

At this point, Black spoke again, his tone carrying an unquestionable certainty.

“He will definitely come back here tomorrow night.”

Hearing this, everyone was stunned and looked at him in confusion.

Irena asked directly.

“Why? He’s already been exposed. Why would he dare to come back?”